Alexander derby penfold



(No Model.) A. D. PENFOLD.

CASE SEAL.

N0. 361,181. Patented Apr. 12, 1887.

Snow won hnr. Washinglon. u. c,

' UNITED STATES PATENT ()FEICEa ALEXANDER DERBY PENFOLD, OF NE? YORK, N. Y.

CASE- SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,181, dated April 12, 1887.

Application filed J anuary 24, 1887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER DERBY PENFOLD, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Case- Seals, of which the followingis a specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

The object of my invention is to indicate when boxes have been tampered with in transit. It is possible to remove the cover of almost any case when in transit and to replace the same so skillfully that detection is imp'ossible. In this way thousands of dollars are lost annually, and inasmuch as no traces of the theft are left it is almost impossible to know who is responsible for the same, and to know j ust where the goods were tampered with.

My invention is an improvement in devices heretofore designed to overcome the above; and it consists in a seal which is adapted to be driven in a case, the same as an ordinary nail and with equal facility, over the joints of the same, so as to prevent a section of the case from being removed without destroying aportion of the surface of the case, which will always leave unmistakable evidence of such removal and locate within certain bounds where the same took place, as the goods pass from one common carrier to another, thus indicating who is responsible for the loss, the said seal being provided with downwardly and outwardly inclined sides, which, as the seal is driven in a case, are adapted to spread still farther outward, so that when the case is tamperedwith an area of the surface of the case larger than the seal will be torn out, whereby the seal cannot be replaced so as to hide the tornaway portion when the cover is put on again. The especial feature of the present invention relates to this latter improvement.

In seals which have been used for accom plishing the above purpose the area torn away by the seal has been less than the size of the seal, so that the same might be replacedover the torn-away portion, and be made to conceal the same. I therefore claim in this application only an improvement in what has been done before in this line of invention, the said improvement in which will be specifically pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

Serial No. 225,321.

(No model.)

In the accompanying drawings I have rep resented in Figure l a case having two seals over ajoint of the same, one of which is represented as having been driven in the wood,

and the other of which is in a position for driving; and in Fig. 2 a plan view of my improved seal with the downwardly and out wardly inclined sides.

My seal is preferably made of metal,and may be cut from a single piece in substantially the shape shown in Fig. 1 by the dotted and the full lines, with V-shaped pieces cut from the corners thereof and scalloped around the perimeter, as shown by thedotted lines in Fig. 1, Having been cut in this shape, the seal is then struck up by the same or another machine into the pyramidal shape represented in the drawings, making a prong or projecting tooth at 7c each corner, which is adapted to take in the wood when the seal is driven in. The coming together of the sides of the V portions make the end prongs slitted, (see Fig. 2,) and this permits the seal, when driven, to assume very nearly its first form. The seal is provided with a number, which may be cut in the top of the same or stenciled thereupon, to indicate the station from whence the goods were shipped, so that the shipping-point is dis- 8o played at numerous places on the case. The seal, as indicated in the drawings, is very compact, more easily manufactured than any heretofore constructed, and requires but a very small quantity of material in its manufacture, 5 its cost being a nominal one only. It may be made in other form than the one shown, and with more than one piece of metal,without departing from the spirit of my invention; and I do not wish to limit myself to the exact construction shown, as any seal accomplishing the above purpose in substance may be used and still be within the scope of my invention.

The right is reserved to make any change in practice that falls within the spirit of what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent, which is 1. A seal for cases, adapted to be driven in the wood over the joints of the same, having portions inclined outward and downward from C the body of the seal, which portions are adapted to take into the wood and be bent farther outwhereby when the seal is removed an area of the case larger than the seal is destroyed is adapted to pass beneath the surface of the thereby, so that the seal when replaced cannot same and to be bent farther outward by said be made to hide the same. driving, for the purpose set forth.

2. Aseal of the character described, adapted In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 15 5 to be driven in a case over the joints of the my hand andseahthis 22d day ofJanuary,1887, same, struck up from a single piece of metal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. into pyramidal or other form with slotted v i i v prongs at each corner, and teeth intermediate M'Exnmm Inflow thereof, both projecting from the top thereof \Vitnesses: IO and constituting together outwardly-inclined I A. O. FOWLER,

sides, which as the seal is driven in the wood JOHN RooERs. 

